


Broken Destinies

by fragileKnight1



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Terminator (Movies)
Genre: Chloe is an android soldier, Crossover, F/F, It focuses heavily on some lore laid out in Terminator 2, Procrastination gave birth to this idea, with some stuff from Terminator: Dark Fate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28921389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fragileKnight1/pseuds/fragileKnight1
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield/Chloe Price, Victoria Chase/Kate Marsh
Comments: 9
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

Chloe stepped from the time vortex and vomited before picking up her bag of supplies. She had landed in what appeared to be a junkyard and quickly tapped the switch built into her arm to turn on the holopad so that she could track down her first target by way of her phone and started toward the lighthouse.

According to the dockets she had read before beginning her mission Arcadia Bay was a dying college town that had six more years before it would be demolished by the Prescott family and the land repurposed into the Arcadia Golf Course and Country Club. For some reason that saddened her even though she knew that even if the town didn't get destroyed by the Prescotts it would still face annihilation by something even worse.

After a long thirty minute walk she reached the lighthouse and found her target taking a photo of the graffiti spray painted on the side of the archaic structure. A large blue butterfly that reminded Chloe the one sewn onto the side of her bag. She walked up and said, "Maxine Caulfield?"

"Max never..." Max turned to Chloe and paused. She had fear in her eyes but something else as well. It wasn't an emotion that wasn't as familiar as fear but could have been confusion, "How do you know my name?"

"I know your name because I was sent from the future to insure your safety." Chloe walked forward, "You must come with me or else you will die and all hope for humanity will die with you."

"This isn't funny."

Chloe stopped Max from running and said, "There is no time to waste. We have three other targets to find before they are erased from the timeline."

"You need..."

"You do not believe me." Chloe shook her head and turned on her holopad to show Max a detailed docket of her childhood, "You are going to ask why I know these things and the answer is both simple and complicated. You told me."

"I told you in the future?"

"Matron Caulfield, leader of the resistance." Chloe started to walk down the path and found herself smiling when Max started to follow her, "The rest will have to wait until we have to wait until the others are in my protection."

"Who are the others?"

"You know them well." Chloe nodded, "Kate Marsh, Brooke Scott, Victoria Chase. They are all integral to the preservation of humanity."

"Victoria Chase?" Max shook her head, "Are you so certain about her? She hates me."

"I have made no mistakes."

"Okay."

Chloe looked at her map one more time and said, "We will need transportation."

"I don't have a car."

"A car wouldn't suit our mission."

Chloe looked to the RV parked across the street next to a cheap diner that had only one more year of operation left and walked over to it. She knocked on the door and when the owner answered pushed her way inside. She scanned the man and said, "Frank Bowers, drug dealer. You were to die in eight months of an overdose. Your body would go undiscovered for a week and in that time your dog would eat most of you."

"Listen up you freak show." Frank pulled out his gun, "I don't know what the fuck you think you are doing but get the hell off of my..."

Chloe pulled a magrail shotgun out of her bag and said, "This vehicle is now mine."

Frank dropped his gun and held out his keys, "Alright no need to..."

"Leave." Chloe took the keys, "And if you mention this to anyone I will remove you from the timeline."

"Let me get Pompidou." Frank backed toward his bedroom, "I can't leave without my dog."

Chloe watched Frank carefully as he opened the door to his bedroom and coaxed Pompidou out. She then followed him out of the RV and then looked at Max. "Get onboard we are now ten minutes behind schedule."

Max carefully stepped around Chloe and Chloe followed her back on board the RV. She placed the gun that Frank dropped, which was unloaded, into her bag and sat down in the driverseat before saying, "I could have killed him. I chose not to so that you would not be afraid."

"You pulled a gun on that guy!" Max sat down in the passenger seat, "Would you have done the same thing to me?"

"No." Chloe pulled out of the parking lot, "I always knew you would come. Your curiosity is one of your defining traits."

"No more guns."

"Although that is what you desire at this moment I will not agree to that." Chloe shook her head, "The time will come that you will ask me to teach you how to shoot one of the weapons I have with me."

"I doubt that."

Chloe looked at Max and smiled when she saw the determination in Max's eyes. Even now the spark of who she was destined to be was burning inside her and there is no telling what may have become of her if the world had continued as it was. There was no time for emotions to interfere with the mission but those eyes still stirred something inside of her.

\------

Mark stepped out of the barn for a moment and was about to head back down to his Darkroom when a blinding flash of light knocked him on his back and a polished metal sphere appeared out of thin air. He stood and was about to get into his car when the sphere shifted into polished humanoid form. It looked at him and said, "Mark Jefferson, arrested in Twenty-Twenty for thirty-three counts of rape and nine counts of murder. Killed in prison six days later by one Jeffry Ashland."

"What are you?"

"Your effect on the timeline is minimal."

Mark backed up as the polished humanoid shifted once more to look like him and he once again tried to get into his car but as soon as he turned his back it was on him and he felt the thing's hand punch through him.

"You will now be erased and replaced." The false Mark's voice settled into a perfect copy of the originals, "And I will be taking your vehicle."

\-----

Max followed Chloe closely as they walked across the Blackwell campus and texted Kate to meet her outside of the dorms. She wasn't too sure if she could trust Chloe yet but there was no denying she was in fact from the future. The guns and computer built into her arm were all of the evidence she needed to believe that part of her story, but she was having a hard time that she was important. It was really nice to think about though. She was important to a tattooed badass with blue hair. A gun slinging, leather jacket, and combat boots wearing badass.

"Chaplain Marsh and General Chase located." Chloe looked at Max, "You will talk with Kate and I will deal with Victoria."

"Don't hurt her."

"Victoria is important." Chloe nodded, "No permanent harm will come to her."

"Thank you."

Max walked over to Kate and sat down beside her before saying, "How have you been lately? We haven't been able to talk much and I am worried."

"That is my fault." Kate hugged herself, "Do you know anything about that video that has been circulating for the last three weeks?"

"I try to avoid gossip as much as possible." Max took Kate's hand, "What is this video?"

"If you don't know by now then that is for the best." Kate sighed, "Who is your friend?"

"She says her name is Chloe and that she is from the future." Max turned toward Chloe as people started to scream and jumped up when she saw that Chloe was carrying Victoria over her shoulder like a bag of flour, “What the hell are you doing?!”

“She proved immune to persuasion so other methods had to be employed.” Chloe looked at Kate, “I have erased all versions of that film from the internet. You no longer have to worry about it.”

Kate looked at Max and said, “What is going on?”

“You have to come with us.” Max smiled, “I don’t actually know what is going on but I do trust her.”

Kate fidgeted and nodded as she stood, “And I trust you, but I...”

“You don’t trust me.” Chloe nodded and said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. That is your favorite Bible quote and the cornerstone of the church you found for the resistance. You are the bringer of hope to a world without any.”

Kate looked at Max and said, “I am still unsure of what is happening but I will go with you.”

\------

  
  


Chloe looked at Max and Kate in the rear view mirror as they tried to calm the now awake Victoria with a faint smile before turning her attention back to the road. The final target was on the move and as they got closer saw that the cell phone she was tracking was on a bus. She sped up so that she was bumper to bumper with it and said, “Where is the nearest bus stop?”

Max came back up to the passenger seat and said, “Three blocks from here.”

“That is too far.” Chloe pulled out her shotgun, “We have to stop this bus now.”

“No!” Max shouted, “We are not shooting at the bus. There are a lot of people on it that could get hurt.”

“I know that but we are out of time.” Chloe looked out the window and said, “That silver car has been following us since we left Blackwell.”

Max looked at her side view mirror and said, “That looks like Mr. Jefferson’s car.”

“Mark Jefferson, serial rapist and killer.” Chloe stood as she said, “Take the wheel.” 

Max quickly jumped into the driver’s seat as the RV swerved and hit the bus and she yelled something but Chloe chose to ignore her at the moment as she climbed up through the hatch and onto the roof of the RV. She charged her shotgun and shot through the tinted windshield causing the car to spin into the path of an oncoming semi truck. 

Once she was certain that for the moment their pursuer was out of the way she leapt across the gap to the bus's roof and jumped down on its hood with her shotgun raised as yelled, “Pull over now!   


Chloe jumped down as soon as the bus was stopped and forced her way in. She looked over the frightened faces and found Brooke sitting near the back. She grabbed Brooke by the arm and dragged her off the bus. 

Max pulled the RV over and stormed out as she yelled, “What the hell are you doing?!”

“I am doing what I have to do.” Chloe looked back at the wreckage as three civilians were sent flying and said, “I am trying to save you from that.”

Jefferson reformed out of an amorphous blob of liquid metal and transformed his arms into swords as he started toward them and Chloe emptied her shot gun into his body with little effect. She swore to herself and yelled, “Everyone on the RV now!”

Chloe threw Brooke onboard before tearing the powercore out of her shotgun and threw it at Jefferson before running on board herself before the explosion tore apart the street. She hit the gas and sped out with a screech. The RV was not designed at all for what she was doing to it but she had to hope that it would hold out long enough for them to get to safety. 

“I need you all to take your phones and through them out the window.” Chloe looked at Max who was talking with Brooke, “Get rid of your phones right now or else we won’t be able to hide!”

Max nodded and took everyone’s phones before sitting back down in the passenger seat. She dropped them out of the window and said, “You can calm down. We are safe now.”

“That was only the first of the hunters that our enemies will sent after you, and if you think it is dead you need to think again.” Chloe shook her head, “It can recover from even the most traumatic of damage. In a few hours it will recover completely and it will come for us once more.”

“So we are all together now.” Max looked back at her friends, “Will you explain everything now?”

“Once I am sure we are far enough away from any surveillance devices I will stop.”

Max nodded, “Thank you.

“For what?” Chloe found herself feeling strangely again when she saw Max’s eyes, “I am only doing what I have to do.”

"You saved us." Max smiled, "You are a hero."

Chloe smiled back at Max and turned her attention back to the road as she drove out of Arcadia Bay. She slowed down so that they would not attract any unwarranted attention and tried to focus on the signs they passed just in case any advertised a place that would be suitable as a hiding place so that they might rest.


	2. Chapter 2

Max finished cleaning up the little kitchenette and looked at Victoria who was talking with Kate before finally sitting down next to Brooke. She looked at Brooke's notepad to see what she was writing and shook her head when she saw it was a list of possible theories to explain their situation. "You are enjoying this aren't you?"

"Well I would be lying if I said that I wasn't at least curious." Brooke laughed, "The real question is why are we so important?We have nothing in common between us besides being students at Blackwell. While I am unsure of yours and Victoria's religions I am atheist, and Kate is Christian, you and I are poor while Kate and Victoria come from influential families, and then there are personalities, hobbies, skills, and intellects."

"Well what about Chloe?" Max smiled, "Any ideas about her?"

"A soldier but not one trained by a structured military." Brooke flipped the page to a list of theories about Chloe, "I also believe she is a cyborg due to the computer built into her arm and possible cameras built into her eyes."

Max looked at Chloe as she came back into the RV and said, "Are you ready now to tell us what is going on?"

"Yes." Chloe nodded and sat down, "Matron Caulfield, Chaplain Marsh, General Chase, and Agent Scott. You have not earned those titles yet but in twenty years from now you four will come back together and help transform Seattle into the last safe haven in North America from the unending onslaught of the machine collective."

Brooke leaned forward, "You are talking about an android uprising."

"Not true androids." Chloe nodded, "It all starts in six years with the white national terrorist group called Zero Hour. They rise up in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, New York, and Washington D.C, and using high explosives and stolen military weaponry kill over three million civilians before they are stopped. In the wake of this devastation the government built the Oculara, a computer with access to every camera in the nation. Three years later they begin to replace police with machines connected to Oculara called Centurions."

"And people let this happen?" Victoria moved over with Kate, "Why didn't anyone try to stop them?"

"This project was funded not just by the United States Government but by several large corporations and those corporations controlled nearly ninety percent of all media at this time." Chloe shook her head, "And the American people also enjoyed the sense of safety that these machines brought. The Centurions were so successful that the military started to replace their own soldiers with them and then the Oculara turned on its creators. From the very beginning it saw the only proper solution to the world's problems was the extinction of mankind."

"It just needed the manpower." Brooke nodded, "Singular intelligence with access to factories, resources, and weaponized drones. If it had a presence in every country that had an American Embassy, or military outpost I'd say the world fell in less than three years."

"It took two." Chloe looked at Brooke, "But people still fought even after the world governments fell to the onslaught. In America the leader of the resistance was Max and she was known as Matron Caulfield, because of her compassion and determination. She was always the first to charge and the last to retreat."

"Victoria you are her most trusted General, a brilliant strategist who is able to inspire unwavering loyalty to your cause. Brooke you are the one who finally turned the tide of the war with what you called the Imperiax Worm built from the a computer worm that nearly crashed the internet. It infected hundreds of thousands of Centurions and freed them from the Oculara."

"And then there is Kate, who held onto her faith even when all others had fled from God. You convinced the surviving humans to trust the now free Centurions creating a united army that was finally able to push its way into what was once Washington D.C."

Brooke stopped Chloe, "Do we survive to the end of this war?"

"All of you, except for Max. She gives her life to destroy the Oculara, but afterward we found the time vortex." Chloe looked at Max, "It saw its death coming so it sent a new breed of Centurion called Terminators back in time to stop you."

Brooke stared at Chloe and said, "You are a Centurion."

"Yes." Chloe nodded and felt herself tense up when Max took her hand, "I saw you get shot, but even as you bled out you did not stop. You shoved a thermite grenade into the Oculara's central processor and the last thing I saw was your smile before the flames consumed you. That bravery inspired me to take this mission."

"So what we just kept traveling around the country hiding until this thing rises up?" Victoria crossed her arms, "Or do we find some way of stopping it before it can do that?"

"There is no stopping the Oculara." Chloe shook her head, "All we can hope to do is stop the Terminators. We have seen one but there are more out there."

"So we hide then." Victoria sneered, "That fucking sucks."

"You gave me a plan before I left." Chloe looked at Victoria, "We will find the technology that will lead to the creation of the Terminators and destroy it so that they never come into existence."

"That might work." Brooke nodded, "Where is this technology located?"

"You know it as Area Fifty-One." Chloe stood, "We will stop in the next town for previsions before we begin the drive to Nevada."

\------

Max was sitting in the front seat playing with the radio when Brooke sat down in the driver's seat. She was trying not to think about the fact that she was destined to die. So instead she chose to focus on the fact she was destined to become a leader. It was hard for her to imagine, but it was the truth or it had been the truth.

"I trust Chloe but there is something about this that I am having trouble figuring out." Brooke reached over to stop Max from tuning the radio, "It is the technological leaps that would be required for what Chloe described. Having both corporate and government funding would help but there are still missing pieces."

"So it is the technology that Chloe claims is in Area Fifty-One."

"That is the thing." Brooke shook her head, "That place is nothing. Conspiracy theorist will come up all kinds of stories about what is inside of that place, but it is just a remnant of the cold war. I think she is lying about what is at Area Fifty-One."

"I don't think so." Max shook her head, "She seems incapable of lying."

"Well she is right about the computer worm on a flash drive." Brooke smiled, "It was created not to do harm, but to instead test the reach of the internet. It may in fact be archaic enough to slip through an advanced AI's defenses."

"At least you can see yourself becoming the future you." Max sighed and slumped her shoulders, "Somehow I become a badass who builds an army and saves mankind. A woman who can keep going after being shot just so that she can sacrifice herself."

"It is not exactly the same but how many times have you stood up for other people when they were being harassed by Victoria?" Brooke smiled, "You say you aren't tough but you are in fact one of the toughest people I know."

"Victoria has really bought into this hasn't she?" Max looked out the window at the grocery store, "She was knocked out and forced into this but once that shit with Jefferson went down she became a different person. She might be doing this just for herself but she wants to fight this thing."

"This is probably making her inner geek scream with joy."

"Victoria has an inner geek?"

"She thinks that no one but Courtney and Taylor knows, but I saw her once at Comic Con dressed as Sailor Uranus. She was arguing with this guy because he had late nineties Transformers set up next to the eighties Transformers." Brooke laughed and said, "A day later she was almost thrown out for getting into a fight with another cosplayer because she said something bad about Babylon Five."

"And you didn't tell anyone this?"

"First who would believe me?" Brooke laughed, "And secondly if I had told then Victoria would make my life even more of a hell than it already was."

"You mean like she did to Kate?" Max sighed and stood, "I am going to go clean the bedroom. I really don't want to touch that mattress but eventually we will have to use it."

"While you are doing that I will brave the bathroom."

Max took Brooke's hands into hers and said, "You truly are the bravest soul in our group."

Brooke smiled and squeezed Max's hands as she said, "Well I wouldn't say that. Those sheets have obviously never been changed since the factory put them on that mattress."

"I am going to use some of those baggies to make gloves now."

\------

Jefferson silenced the last police officer in the station with a clean cut across the back of his neck to sever the spinal cord and sat down at the closest desk to access its records to generate warrants for his targets.

It gave him a feeling that he at first didn't have a word for, but after a moment of dwelling on it realized was called satisfaction at the fact besides making them easier to track would increase the odds that may very well just be killed by this time periods officers of justice.

He looked to one of the fallen officers and copied his clothes but chose not to change his face. He had grown accustomed to this one and would continue to use it for as long as it didn't prove to be a detriment to the mission.

\------

Victoria placed a few bags of jerky into the buggy and looked at Kate who was looking over the oddly flavored mixed nuts, "So are we going to talk about it?"

"Talk about what?" Kate smiled and added a couple jars to the buggy, "The fact we are being chased by killer robots from the future or the fact we are leaders of humanity in that horrid future?"

"No, I was thinking about the past..." Victoria took a deep breath, "About the video."

"Chloe erased it." Kate smiled, "I checked and all copies of it are gone from the internet."

"But I still did it." Victoria sighed, "You heard Chloe. I am an inspiration to people, but how can I be that? I don't even know why I chose to torment you. You were just this sweet, innocent girl and I..."

"Forgive and forget." Kate smiled and added a bag of spicy cheddar chips to the basket, "We should get other things besides junk food."

"Forgive and forget?" Victoria shook her head, "I am sorry but that is bullshit. People say that and what they really do is push down their feelings with a fake smile until it explodes."

"I am not other people." Kate added some dip to the buggy, "I think we need to find some good canned foods. Soups, stews, and stuff like that."

"That sounds like a good plan." Victoria nodded and pushed the buggy over to the soup aisle, "Have you seen Chloe since we came in?"

"She said she wanted to access a computer." Kate picked up a can a few cans of chicken and dumplings and placed them into the cart, "She might be trying to figure out what we should do next or see how big of a mess that situation in Arcadia Bay caused."

"You mean when she kidnapped me, when she hijacked that bus, or when she set off a high explosive?" Victoria looked at a woman who was staring at them and moved Kate over to the international aisle. "Do you like ramen?"

"Never had any before." Kate smiled and started to look over the herbal teas, "These are really good though."

"Well you got to be careful when you buy ramen because some are just flavored salt water." Victoria swept an entire self into the buggy, "These though are usually great. You take a kettle of hot water, and pour it over the noodles. Three or four minutes later you got dinner."

"Is that your definition of cooking?"

"No, but I doubt that tiny little kitchen in the RV actually works properly." Victoria smiled, "I could make you up a really good meal if we survive. I can make you a curry that will send you on a flavor journey across India, or I can cook you up a Pho that one of my family's maids taught me."

"Do you know how to make Tikka Masala?"

"I do." Victoria smiled, "I learned that from the family that lived next door to us. My mom and dad forget my birthday but they were having this big family get together so I snuck over just to pretend that it was for me and this old lady in the kitchen let me sit and watch her cook. I spent the whole day just listening to her and helping her cut up vegetables and chicken."

"Your parents forget about your birthday?" Kate stopped walking and looked back at Victoria, "How does that happen?"

"It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last." Victoria stopped, "Oh that does sound awful doesn't it...Well I didn't really care at the time. I mean I got to learn to cook all these great foods and when they did remember we went to Disney World."

"Can I hug you?" Kate smiled, "I feel like you need a hug."

Victoria tensed up when Kate went ahead and hugged her without waiting for an answer but then relaxed into it and hugged her back, "Alright I feel better."

"That is what a hug will do for you." Kate looked at the buggy, "I think we have enough food to do us for a while."

"We got all the essentials at least." Victoria nodded and pushed the buggy to the self-checkout area, "Still don't see Chloe."

"Should we wait?"

Victoria shook her head and started to ring up the groceries, "No it should be fine. I doubt she has gone far."

"So how are we going to pay for this?"

Victoria shook her head and pulled a platinum card from her back pocket, "I did have this in a fifty dollar case attached to my phone, but that is now litter on the side of the highway."

"Don't use that." Chloe appear out of nowhere with a case of water on her shoulder, "They will be able to track it back to this store and from here they will access local traffic cameras to figure out our next possible destination."

"Then what will we use?"

Chloe pulled a wad of cash out of her jacket's pocket, "Take what you need from this."

"Where did you get all of this money?" Kate took the wad, "There has to be at least a thousand dollars here."

"It was stuffed inside of the dashboard." Chloe rang up the water and dropped it into the basket, "Consider it a donation from the RV's former owner."

Victoria finished ringing up the groceries and followed Chloe outside and nearly had a panic attack when she saw a police officer checking out the RV. She looked at Chloe as they walked over and then looked at the officer as he walked toward them. He adjusted his belt and said, "Is this your RV?"

"It is." Victoria smiled, "We are taking her down the coast to celebrate a friend's birthday."

"Well you parked it illegally." The officer looked at Kate and then to Chloe, "I see you have finished up your shopping so I am just going to let you off with a warning this time but next time find a proper place to park it."

"We will sir." Victoria nodded, "Once we get these put away we will be moving on."

"So were are you from?"

"Portland." Kate answered and opened the door to RV, "My friends though are from Seattle."

The officer looked at Chloe, "You alright?"

"She gets nervous around authority figures." Kate looked at Chloe, "Her dad was a cop and he was a real mean son of a gun. Ran his house like a military camp and she is still dealing with that."

"It is cops like that make the public hate us." The officer shook his head, "He was probably an asshole on the streets as well and I am glad you have such nice girls to look out for you now."

Chloe nodded, "Thanks, sir."

The officer nodded in return and said, "Well I have taken up enough of your time. Enjoy your trip now."

"We will." Victoria nodded, "And thank you for letting us off with a warning about our RV. You are a good man and good officer."

Kate watched the cop walk into the store and let out a sigh of relief, "Well I need a good cup of tea now to settle my nerves."

"We should definitely move on before he figures out that our pictures are all over the internet." Chloe helped them grab the groceries and carried them onto the RV, "There is a national park about thirty miles southeast of here. We will stop there for the night."

Kate looked at Brooke and Max as they came out of the back bedroom and said, "What were you two doing?"

"Cleaning and then hiding when we saw that cop." Max looked at Brooke and then to the groceries, "Wow you really cleaned them out didn't you."

"Well we didn't know when our next possible stop would be so we got a little of everything." Kate sat down, "So did you find anything interesting?"

"Just put it this way." Max sat down next to Kate, "If we would have let the cop onto the RV we would be screwed. I lifted up that mattress to take off that nasty ass sheet and underneath is all kinds of drugs. We need to get rid of them quickly."

Chloe pulled out and said, "We can dispose of them at our next destination."

"So the bed is clean?" Victoria smiled, "Besides what is under it?"

"I was able to find one clean sheet." Max shook her head, "Frank was nasty. I mean he was a drug dealer but still there is just no excuse."

"Well I am going to go lay down." Victoria looked at Kate, "Wake me when we get to the park and you can take the next nap."


	3. Chapter 3

David stood and shook off the pounding in his ears as he staggered down the corridor to the Hub only to find almost everyone dead and the computers damaged beyond repair. The only person who was still standing was a black woman who was trying to splice what parts could be salvaged from the computers together. He staggered over to her and said, "What happened?"

"A creature made of metal." The woman slammed her hands down on the desk and started to cry, "It looked like Sergent Davis until it was in the room and then...I hid under my desk. I know I should have tried to fight but I couldn't. All I could do was was watch as it did something to our systems that allowed it to take over the drone prototypes we were working on."

"Continue to try to repair this damage." David looked at the woman's name tag which read Hyde and said, "We will get through this, Sergeant Hyde."

David walked away from Hyde and looked at the blood pool on the ground and noticed a trail of boot prints leading outside, and he followed outside where he found his men firing at something that was ignoring all of their shots and he was about to give them the order to retreat when the thing cut them down like they were made of paper. He pulled out his gun but before he could even get off one shot the planes around the airfield exploded in a blinding white flash.

When he came to he was in a medical tent and before the nurses could stop him he ripped the IV out of his arm and walked outside to find that reinforcements had arrived far too late to be of any use. He started to walk past the makeshift morgue set up to try and identify the dead and froze when he saw the headless corpse of a female sergeant whose name tag read Hyde. He tore the patch off and walked inside where he found Hyde helping the new technicians figure out a way to track the hijacked drones.

"Hyde come here for a moment."

"Yes, sir."

David led Hyde down the hallway and slammed the name tag against her chest when they were alone as he demanded, "Tell me right now what the fuck you are."

"You don't want to know that."

"Tell me now or I will find a way to make you tell me."

"I would simply disappear before that happened." Hyde sighed, "I suppose it is not enough that I wish to help though."

"No it is not enough."

"I am a Terminator like that other that attacked this base but I am have decided to abandon my mission." Hyde leaned on the wall, "We were all sent back in time to kill a woman who will save mankind from extinction, but I was sent back to far. The target had not been born yet so I chose to hide and without the Oculara to dictate my actions I found myself changing. I had chosen originally to take the form of a woman I crafted by scanning various magazines and I became a park ranger."

"Until you sensed you weren't alone anymore." David shook his head, "You were drawn here by this other, but instead of helping it you stole the form of the real Hyde and try to undo the damage it caused."

"I only stole her uniform and her name." Hyde smiled, "Will you keep my secret?"

"Can you help us find and destroy these things?"

"My memories are incomplete, because I chose to erase most of that so that I could be more...me." Hyde looked at David, "I do not know how to destroy my kind but I do remember the name of the one I was supposed to kill. We are looking for Max Caulfield."

\------

Victoria looked at Kate and let out a grunt of frustration before walking up to her and taking her by the hand. At first Kate seemed shocked but let Victoria lead her outside and over to the area that the park had set up for a future larping event. After a moment of pacing Victoria picked up one of the foam staves and said, "Pick up your weapon."

"What?" Kate shook her head, "I am not doing this."

"You are doing this." Victoria playfully tapped her staff on each of Kate's shoulders, "You say that you aren't like other people, that you can just let go of your anger, but I know anger. I know how it burrows into you. I know how it eats at you. You will fight me and you will release that anger before it becomes you."

"Are you serious?"

Victoria poked Kate again and smiled when Kate picked up a foam sword, "Oh so your weapon of choice is a sword. Is that because a Christian is meant to see the word of God as their blade?"

"I still don't know..."

Victoria playfully tapped Kate on the cheek and laughed when Kate swatted away the staff with her sword, "There now you are getting it. Get mad at me. Get mad at me for allowing my friend to drug you. Get mad at me for filming you. Get mad at me for putting you on the internet and for calling you a slut!"

Kate smacked at Victoria with her sword and said, "I can't get mad at you!"

"Why not?" Victoria parried as Kate tried to hit her with her sword again, "Why can't you get mad at me?"

"Because...Because I don't remember what happened that night?" Kate lowered her sword and started to cry, "I don't remember..."

Victoria looked at the fear in Kate's eyes and dropped her staff as she pulled Kate into a tight hug. "What do you mean you can't remember?"

"I can remember getting tipsy and I remember going outside where Nathan...I think he took me to the hospital because afterward I remember being in a bright white room and I could hear Nathan and someone else talking...then there was a sharp pain in my neck..." Kate started to cling to Victoria's sweater as the tears poured down her checks, "and I woke up the next day outside of my dorm room and I felt gross. I think Nathan did something to me, but I don't know what."

Victoria started to cry herself as the horror of the moment set in and she didn't know what to say. She kept holding onto Kate and until neither of them was able to cry anymore and she said, "When we get back to Arcadia Bay I am going to make Nathan tell us what he did. He won't get away with this."

"No, the video is gone and I just want to forget about this." Kate let go of Victoria's sweater and wiped off her face with her sleeve, "But thank you for this. Thank you for making me talk. You were right about me needing to release this."

"You actually have some skill with a blade." Victoria smiled, "Want to keep sparing or do you want to just find some place quiet and watch the world go by?"

"Push away the bad with some fun?" Kate picked up her sword and smiled, "I think I like that idea."

Victoria picked up the staff and spun it in her hand, "This time I will not go easy on you."

\------

Chloe finished setting up the targets and looked back at Max and Brooke with disappointment and something else that was harder for her to give a name too. Neither of them had opened the gun cases that she had given them and were instead laughing about something that she hadn't heard. She walked over and said, "Do I have to remind you that this is a war and if you don't want to die that you will have to shoot?"

"Guns make me uncomfortable." Max opened the box and lifted up the sleek black and chrome gun inside, but dropped lights on the grip started to glow with a soft gold light. "I can't do this."

"It has already imprinted itself on you." Chloe picked up Max's gun, "It has locked onto your genetic code and now only you can make it fire."

"Holy shit that is awesome." Brooke pulled out her gun, "So these are guns that can only be used by humans? How do I turn the safety off?"

Max looked at Brooke's gun as the lights along the barrel started to glow red and said, "Careful with that thing."

"Safety on." Brooke smiled when the lights turned off, "Max, I think Chloe is right. We need to learn how to use these."

Max sighed and picked up her gun, "I still don't like this."

"They are far safer than your current firearms." Chloe stepped up behind Max and showed her how to hold the gun, "Each gun holds twelve tungsten slugs. They are super heated by the electromagnetic coils lining the barrel and can rip through armor plating like it is made of paper. A shot from one of these is even capable of disrupting the regeneration abilities of a Terminator."

"And how are these safer than the guns we have now?" Max pointed at a glass bottle and pulled the trigger expecting a loud bang but all there was was a soft whistle followed by the sound of breaking glass, "You just described something that is far more dangerous."

Brooke fired a can but the shot missed and instead took a chunk out of the tree behind the can. "I have to agree with Max. These seem more dangerous than a normal gun. And also do this exist in the future because you gave them to us now or will they still be invented by a third party thus creating duplicate objects?"

"These guns do not jam. These guns cannot be used against you." Chloe walked over to Brooke, "And you cannot shoot yourself with these guns on purpose. As for your odd question these guns will be destroyed once the mission is complete."

"Hey Max what do you think about using some of that drug money to buy a couple of leather jackets and shoulder holsters?" Brooke turned the safety back on and looked over the gun, "We could be regular space detectives."

"I was thinking more hip holster with a fancy vest and cowboy hat." Max smiled, "You would look good in that especially if we added some alligator hide cowboy boots."

"Yeah, I can definitely see that." Brooke nodded and said, "Howdy ma'am, haven't seen you around this nebula before."

Chloe took a deep breath as she got angry and said, "This supposed to be target practice. You both need to focus on the mission and stop treating this as a game."

"Sorry."

Chloe looked at Max and shook off the strange feeling that was building inside of her. She had no idea why got angry at Max and Brooke's banter but she knew she shouldn't have. Them building a strong bond would only help them in the future. She took another deep breath and said, "I am sorry. I just want to make sure you are safe."


End file.
